Abstract: An iron tailing containing 0.38％ copper was treated in a closed-circuit flotation flowsheet consisting of one roughing, two scavengings and four cleanings. As a result, a copper concentrate grading 23.86% with a recovery of 68.86% was obtained. The flotation tailing was then gravity-separated by tabling to reduce its copper grade to 0.10％ and to improve the copper recovery by 4.69 percentage points to 73.55%. A new concentrator producing a copper concentrate grading 18.05% (combination of the flotation and gravity separation concentrates) will have an investment recovery period of only 0.8 a, an evident economic benefit.

Key words: Iron tailing, Copper minerals, Flotation, Gravity separation